


A Queer Arrangement

by elizainlove



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Friendship, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25017604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizainlove/pseuds/elizainlove
Summary: It's Lady Mary's first London season and she is coming out. It also turns into a more than reluctant coming out of a different sort for one Thomas Barrow.Lord Grantham and Thomas strike up a very odd arrangement after Robert reads a rather incriminating note passed to his footman by one of Lady Mary's new suitors.
Relationships: Thomas Barrow & Robert Crawley, thomas barrow / OC
Comments: 1
Kudos: 79





	A Queer Arrangement

**Author's Note:**

> Note: 
> 
> ‘The “coming out” of a young woman represented a change in her status from child to adult and her “introduction” to society.’ - Victoriaspast.com
> 
> I found mixed information online about when girls would ‘come out’. I think it depended on the girl in question and when in the Victorian / Edwardian age it happened. I found some accounts of it happening at 16 or 15 but as I wanted Thomas a year younger than Mary I made her 18 (which I think was far more common). Couldn’t deal with writing anything about Thomas having fun in the London season knowing he’s 15. I’m too old for that creepy shit.

It was a more than queer arrangement, Robert would admit, but one which had served the family well over the last few years or so. The whole blasted thing had started when his eldest daughter Mary had come out at the age of eighteen. Floods of admirers had wafted around her throughout the London season, dancing, paying calls, and flirting as politely as possible while the rest of the family looked on. 

It began one evening a week into the season. Once drinks were done for the evening Robert had called Thomas back into the room. All the men had wound their way to bed by now and he dismisses Carson to finally clear the room. He levels his young footman with a look “I think you should show me that note” 

Thomas flinched. Actually flinched. There was no other way of putting it. Robert felt his eyebrows raise “There is no point in denying it, I saw young Lord Addington hand you a slip of paper earlier tonight and the accompanying look leads me to believe it was not an innocent request. Please hand it to me” It was not a question but Thomas takes half a step back and makes no move to retrieve the paper from his tails “Thomas” He states “If it is in fact innocent you have nothing to fear”

It was clear from his raising panic and gaping mouth that Thomas did in fact have something to fear but he rather impressively manages a tone almost as smooth as usual when he lies “Lord Addington simply put in a request for new sheets every morning and asked me to pass on the note to the maids. Which I have already done, my Lord”

Robert frowns “I know that is not true. He would have no reason to slip you a note so secretly if that were all. And in any case you have had no time to put in such a request to the maids in the last hour. I will not ask you again. Give me the note in your pocket”

For a moment it looked as though Thomas were going to refuse. He took the slip out and held it tightly. Robert took a step forward but Thomas takes two back. “Thomas if you do not give me the note I will have both the paper and your job” He was angry now but he was surprised when his footman still hesitated, clearly weighing up his options “If I have to let you go without reference I will still get the note. There is no situation in which you win here so I suggest you hand it over before you make this even worse for yourself”

Thomas let out a slightly manic breath but finally handed the paper over, looking at a spot over Robert’s shoulder. He was sweating slightly as he backed towards the door again “Well if that will be all my Lord, I have duties to see to before-”

“Stay” it was a demand which the young footman followed instantly, freezing where he stood. If Robert found the boy to be doing anything unsavory he would be out on his ear. There had always been something a little nasty about him, a little overly secretive.

As he averted his eyes back to the small slip of parchment in his hands however, it would seem Thomas’ petrification had its limits “Please my Lord. Can I not just tell you what is written?” His voice was pleading. “No please, your Lordship. I give you my word it has nout to do with Lady Mary” He steps back towards Lord Grantham with a trembling hand outstretched. This reaction gives the older man pause. If they are conspiring to steal from his household that is a crime and Thomas will be fired of course, and that would be worrying for the lad but he has never seen anything but smooth if slightly cocky service from his newest footman and this response is near hysterical. It only sures his hand more when he moves to unfold and read the note, ignoring the boy’s last whispered “Please, Lord Grantham”

Robert opened the tightly folded paper and the boy switches tact “I don’t know what he could possibly mean by it. Or where he could have gotten- I’ve given no such impression that I-I would be interested- or even persuadable in anything as vulgar, as repugnant, as repulsive as a situation such as- My Lord I can assure you-”

'I want to see what else that sinful mouth of yours can do. Tonight I think i’ll have you on your hands as well as your knees. Same time. Same place.' 

Lord Grantham read the note twice, his eyes wide. This hadn’t been what he’d expected and Thomas’ reaction suddenly seemed much more justified. He looked up half expecting to see the boy no longer there, but he was frozen in place with his chest rising and falling rapidly and a wild panic in his grey eyes. Lord Grantham had never bothered to notice the colour of his eyes before. He felt pangs of sadness and pity for him. Life had not dealt Thomas Barrow an easy hand. He sighs and opens his mouth but Thomas breaks yet another cardinal rule and cuts his Lordship off.

“I don’t know why he gave that to me my Lord, honest. He must have gotten the wrong footman” He was trying to force the calm back onto his handsome features but the desperation would not leave his eyes or hands “I’m not sure why the gentleman thought I would appreciate such disgusting things. That note- it insinuates we have previously- but we haven’t- as I say, he must have got the wrong man my Lord, for we have never spoken. He-”

Lord Grantham holds up a hand to silence his stammers and notes that Thomas and Mary could easily be siblings in looks. They are both tall in stature with fair skin and dark hair. He is not sure what to make of the fact Lord Addington seems to have a type and never mind the gender. He lets out another deep sigh “Please do not insult my intelligence by trying any of that. I would also point out that it is very much my business if a man with intentions on my daughter also has designs on my footman” He raises his eyebrows and looks back at the note, reading it for a third time and wincing slightly at the rather vivid picture it painted “Is this the first time you’ve been caught?” He spoke sharply. Instantly feeling sorry for it when he looked up to see the boy's eyes half filled with tears and looking anywhere but at Lord Grantham. It was the look of shame. Whether that be shame of being found out to be inverted or shame over how he had just tried to defend himself Robert did not know “Well?” He said it more softly.

There was a long pause before Thomas looked at the floor and nodded minutely.

“Right then. We will say no more about it” He kept it voice firm but avoided adding any harsh tones. His approach was awarded with a jerking up of Thomas’s head and a look of complete shock. Robert waited for his youngest footman to say something but after watching him mouth silently for a moment he sighed, saying gently “You needn't look so shocked” then when he continued to look nothing but shocked, added in what he hoped passed as a jest “It will be a weight off my shoulders to not have to worry about any flirtation with my daughters or the maids”

Thomas’ face flushed a blotchy red and he winced but didn’t say anything. 

Ah...well done, Robert. Not the right thing to say after all it would seem. He sighed, suddenly weary “I cannot permit you to have the note back, you understand?”

Thomas seemed to be regaining his sense of self and sucked all emotion back behind his rather impressive servants blank as he straightened and replied “Yes, my Lord”

“How old are you now, Thomas?”

“Seventeen, my Lord”

Robert nodded, scrutinising the young man in front of him “Alright, that will be all”  
He went back to his thoughts as Thomas muttered “very good, my Lord” before calmly and deliberately not legging it out the door. 

So Thomas was younger than he looked then, just a bit younger than his Mary. Surely he couldn’t know that sort of thing already, could he? Though it was true the mucking about some of his fellows at Eton had done had started a lot younger than seventeen. Had Robert been a smob to think that sort of behaviour was confined only to boarding schools? This was potentially something the boy would grow out of and who was he to cast judgment when so many of his peers at school had done the same. That fear in his eyes had spoken of something different though. That hadn't been the fear of a schoolmaster finding you with you hands down another boy's shorts and knowing you were in for a jolly good whipping...that had been something else entirely. Robert poured himself some brandy and considered. It may all be fun and games at school but Thomas was risking a lot more even if it had only gone as far as notes. Did he have any family to go back to? Robert didnt know.

Seventeen. Well well, in a way he supposed this was the boy’s coming out, too? All those eligible men with wandering eyes and maybe even wandering hands considering the lack of supervision he had most of the time. Rober laughed slightly when an image of Thomas in one of Lady Mary’s dresses while he danced with a mustachioed stranger swum to mind. Then he chided himself because, no, that was rather cruel. Robert sighed yet again and made his way upstairs to ring for his Valet.

*

The next day when Robert asked to see Thomas he had all but packed his bags already, putting Lord Grantham’s goodwill the night before down to the abundance of wine and spirits. But it wasn't like he could ignore a direct order from the big boss so before entering the man’s dressing room he straightened his waistcoat and took a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. 

Lord Grantham’s answering “Enter” post Thomas’ knock didn’t sound particularly angry, but maybe he was trying to trick him somehow? Well, Thomas wouldn’t fall for it.

“You asked to see me, my Lord?”

“Ah yes, Thomas” Lord Granthan turned from his mirror “That will be all Watson”

Silence fell as the two remaining men waited for the Valet to leave. Then a little longer for his footsteps to retreat slightly further away. 

“Right then, Thomas. I won’t dally around pretending last night did not occur” He paused as though to let that horrible memory swill around the inside of Thomas’ skull a moment more “I have a slightly unorthodox” he coughed awkwardly “proposition for you”

Thomas, who had been keeping his eye slightly to the left of his Lordship flicked his gaze to meet Lord Grantham’s with mild horror. Surely he couldn't be suggesting...that…

Thankfully Lord Grantham seemed to have seen where he had gone wrong and hastened to amend “I would like for you to do some extra work where Mary’s suitors are concerned” He hurried on before Thomas had the chance to read that incorrectly too because lord knows there was room for interpretation there “I now know that Michael Addington is not the right choice for any of my girls. I would like you to tell me if any other of their suitors appear similarly…” He groped for the right word.

“Ill-matched?” Thomas suggested, hoping his voice hadn’t just come out as high as he thought it had.

“Yes, let’s go with that” He hurried on “What would you say to that?”

Thomas considered. He wasn't sure he liked the idea. He had managed by some miracle to avoid actually verbally admitting anything last night and taking on a job like this would completely destroy any remaining crumbs of credibility left. Plus, “I’m not sure I would be comfortable with that my Lord”

Lord Grantham frowned at him “Why ever not?”

How did the man not see the gaping holes in his lovely plan to employ a degenerate to keep his daughter's wedding other degenerates? How in the bloody hell was he meant to explain this “You understand how damning that information would be for the young men in question?” 

“You would have my strictest confidences” His Lordship’s his tone was serious “I wish no harm on these young men, only that they do not wed my daughters under false pretenses”

Thomas chewed the inside of his bottom lip and tried to phase his next sentence as delicately as possible “What if that young man then had designs on a daughter of a friend of yours? Would my information still be safe?” Or even, Lord ‘ignorant-to-the-dangers-of-others-Grantham’ if I went in for a new job or a promotion? Would you ever be able to keep your gob shut about me being a sod long enough to get a Valet post? Or would you be worried about my perving on an old flacid army chum? Or their son?

Lord Grantham took some time to consider. Weighing his conscience “I believe I could, yes. Does this mean you will take up the role of protector of my daughters virtues?”

When Thomas answered he avoided mentioning that if it were his daughters virtues he were worried about then marrying them off to a bloke of the lavender persuasion was the best way to assure them. Instead he tentatively said “Yes, my Lord” 

There was a moment of awkward silence wherein Thomas waited to be dismissed and Lord Grantham waited for Thomas to say god knows what. Eventually Lord Gratham broke it by saying slowly “Well? Are there any other men I should dissuade Mary from?”

OH, he wanted the information NOW! Thomas blushed slightly when he said “ah yes, my apologies my Lord. There is, as you say, Michael Addington. Then” Here he paused- could he work this to his advantage? There was certainly one name he would be leaving out, as he thought the Duke of Crowborough might come in handy, but were there any false names he could add to the list? “There’s Hadleigh, my Lord, Frederick Hadleigh” The man was a snob even if he had been rather good with his mouth “Ernest Beverly” That bastard had finished all over Thomas’ back then left without bothering to help Thomas reach his own desired end goal “and Basil Payton, i’m not completely sure in regards to him but I have heard some gossip and well...” He trailed off, trying to make it look as if he was hinting to some hidden knowledge only a man like he could know. Payton was decidedly not a bender but was a right prick to his and everyone else's servants. Plus, Thomas had seen him eyeing up Syble a few too many times than was propper and Thomas was in no hurry to give the wretched man a leg up on to that court.

Lord Gratham’s eyebrows had shot into his hairline with that last name “Payton? Are you sure, he is meant to be a damn fine rugby player”

Thomas successfully managed to avoid glowering in response to the obvious shock that a man such as him could be an able rugger “I’m a rather good sportsman myself, my Lord. Especially cricket” As soon as the words had left him Thomas regretted them. There it was. That was as good as an admission. Fucking well done there Thomas you brain box. 

But his Lordship didn’t jump up and point a damning finger as though he had finally succeeded in outwitting the depraved sinner, he just said “are you really? That could be very useful! We have a yearly game against the town, you know?” He smiled encouragingly at Thomas “Are you best as a batsman or bowler?”

Slightly confused as to how they had ended up talking about his sports proclivities as opposed to his rather more personal ones, Thomas answered “I am good in both, but prefer batting, my Lord”

And then it had been time for breakfast. Over the next few days Thomas kept an ear out for policemen but when nothing happened, he also kept an eye out for names for His Lordship. 

*

Years later when Carson finally seemed to cotton on to the fact Thomas was not infact, like most other men, during the whole James debacle, Robert had received a fair few names from his footman. As time went on he had become slightly unsure if all the names were legitimate as Thomas himself seemed to become less and less trustworthy. But then he would think of the terrified young man who had all but cried upon first being found out, and wondered if perhaps Thomas wasn’t as cruel as he now seemed. Maybe he was hardened to a world which gave him little choice to be anything else? Or maybe, just maybe, he was indeed just a bit of a bastard. Either way he knew what to do when Basil Payton came calling with designs on Syble and he thanked the heavens for his sly employee.


End file.
